VinFormation

Serve

Volunteer

“God demands first of all the heart, and then the work” –St. Vincent (Leonard, 4:114). Think about your reasons for wanting to be a Vincentian volunteer: What appeals to you about this work? What gifts and qualities will you bring? Which projects appeal to you most? What experiences have you had which would help in your service? What would you hope to gain from living and sharing with other volunteers? What fears might you have? What gifts and personal qualities could you contribute to the community? How is your Christian faith integrated into your life? How might volunteering help to deepen your faith? Scroll down for a listing of Vincentian volunteer opportunities.

Activism & Advocacy

Strive to serve as a “Voice of the Poor” wherever and whenever you can.

Vocations

Like many other religious orders, our congregations are suffering badly from a chronic shortage of vocations. As a result, a diminishing number of aging women and men religious are trying their best to respond to the changing needs of the Church. Please pray for vocations, asking the Lord to send forth laborers into the harvest. Scroll down for links to the vocations offices of the major branches of the Vincentian Family.

Vincentian Leadership

Our founders, in their lives and works, truly modeled for us what it means to be a visionary, socially responsible leader. St. Vincent in particular was certainly in many ways an organizational and management genius. Think about these questions: What is my sense of commitment to the broader human community and world? How well do I know the Vincentian vision and values? How comfortable am I with hearing ideas that differ from my own? How I am living my commitment to contribute to my communities? Can I inspire others through my actions and words?

Missionary Work

Interested in an actual and personal relationship with persons from another culture? This is a beautiful way of living, as described in this excerpt from the Congregation of the Mission Constitutions of 1980:

Clear and expressed preference for the apostolate among the poor, since their evangelization is the sign that the kingdom of God is present on earth (cf. Mt 11:5);

Attention to the realities of present-day society, especially to the factors that cause an unequal distribution of the world’s goods, so that we can better carry out our prophetic task of evangelization;

Some sharing in the condition of the poor, so that not only will we attend to their evangelization, but that we ourselves may be evangelized by them;

Genuine community spirit in all our apostolic works, so that we may be supported by one another in our common vocation;

Readiness to go to any part of the world, according to the example of the first missionaries of the Congregation

Discover the Vincentian In You.

Live like a pilgrim on earth, become foolish for the sake of Jesus Christ, change your standards of behavior, mortify all your passions, seek God alone, subject yourself to others as the least of all, be convinced that you have come to serve and not to rule others, suffer and work and do not live in luxury and idleness, humble yourself for God, and in so doing you will have true happiness in this world.